1. Technical Field
This invention relates to vehicle article carriers, and more particularly to a vehicle article carrier having a pair of slats which each include at least one mounting portion to which the terminal ends of a cross bar are to be attached, and where a cover member is associated with each mounting portion to cover said mounting portion when said cross bar is detached from said slats.
2. Discussion
Vehicle article carriers are used in a wide-variety of applications to support and transport cargo atop an outer body surface such as a roof or a deck lid of a vehicle. Such vehicle article carriers typically include at least a pair of elongated slats which are fixedly secured to the outer body surface of the vehicle and a cross bar which is removably securable to the slats. To accomplish the removable attachment of the cross bar to the slats, each of the slats typically include some form of mounting portion or structure to which a terminal end portion of the cross bar can be releasably secured.
With vehicle article carriers such as described above, it is often desirable to remove the cross bar from the slats when the vehicle article carrier is not being used. Removing the cross bar can sometimes reduce the slight degree of aerodynamic drag and the slight degree of wind noise sometimes introduced by the cross bar. When the cross bar is removed, however, the mounting portions in each of the slats are exposed to the elements and become visually conspicuous, thus detracting somewhat from the aesthetically pleasing appearance and aerodynamic design of the slats.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide a pair of slats for a vehicle article carrier which include some form of cover member adapted to close-off the mounting portions of the slats when the cross bar is removed. Such a cover member would provide the advantage of helping to reduce the exposure of the mounting components mounted within each of the mounting portions of the slats from the elements, and further to provide each slat with a more aesthetically pleasing appearance when the cross bar is removed therefrom. It would also be highly desirable to provide some form of cover member for each of the slats which could be easily and quickly removed without the need for any special tools when a cross bar is to be attached to the slats, and to be repositioned within the mounting portions after the cross bar is again removed.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a vehicle article carrier having at least one slat, where the slat includes a cover member adapted to close-off a mounting portion of the slat where a terminal end portion of a cross bar would normally mount to the slat when a cross bar is not being used with the vehicle article carrier.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a vehicle article carrier having a slat which includes a cover member which can be quickly and easily moved into place to cover a mounting portion of the slat when a cross bar of the system is removed from the mounting portion in a manner that does not require the use of special tools, and which further can be accomplished in just moments by an individual.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle article carrier having a slat which includes a mounting portion for allowing a cross bar to be secured to the slat, and which further includes a cover member adapted to cover the mounting portion when the cross bar is detached from the slat, and which further is shaped so as to conform to the profile of the slat to provide the appearance of an integrally formed component of the slat.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle article carrier having a slat having a mounting portion to which a cross bar is normally secured, and which includes a cover member which is inexpensive to manufacture and which may be used to quickly and easily cover the mounting portion of the slat when the cross bar is removed from the slat, and which further may be quickly and easily removable without the use of any special tools when the cross bar is to be reattached to the slat.